Hey Guys its been so long im not loging in in this forum cuz of some situation, but instead of being lonely i tried my best knowledge to work with this full home made laser handheld, i have no better tools to use for this so im carefully using common handtools to make this, thanks the two special guys who thought me a lot that's gazoo and chido.

guys im trying to reduce the size of the host body for the incoming 4x writer bluray from LG *but im still using the same laser head brass fitting, from the regular 7.5&quot; of body length because of the 3pcs 3.6v RCR123A that im using on my PS3bluray, i will turn it to 5&quot; of length by using rechargeable 9v battery. if any body have a suggestion please reply on this thread. thanks.

I bought some 14250s (1/2AA size Li-Ions), and would use them in a project like this, if i wanted to bring the size down.

Otherwise, you can make yourself a current regulated boost driver or buy Dr_Lava's FlexDrive buck/boost driver, which can drive ANY diode from one Li-Ion or even two Ni-MHs. That way you can really make your lasers small.

P.S. You did some nice work there! They look very proffesional. What did you use over the switch on the back? Is it some sort of rubber tailcap?

thanks for the suggestion, i use circular plastic ON/OFF switch that actualy perfectly fit on the aluminum tube ive use. on the battery, can i use a rechargeable 3.6v AAA size battery, like others using in their DX host? here in my country its hard to find parts to make a boost driver, so im using only compressed DDL driver at size of 15mm x 20mm using double sided PCB board. if you have an idea on how to make a simple boost circuit, please guide me, cuz now i dont have yet enough money to order finished boost driver. i hope you or somebody can give me some idea on this boost circuit, thanks.

thanks for the suggestion, i use circular plastic ON/OFF switch that actualy perfectly fit on the aluminum tube ive use. on the battery, can i use a rechargeable 3.6v AAA size battery, like others using in their DX host? here in my country its hard to find parts to make a boost driver, so im using only compressed DDL driver at size of 15mm x 20mm using double sided PCB board. if you have an idea on how to make a simple boost circuit, please guide me, cuz now i dont have yet enough money to order finished boost driver. i hope you or somebody can give me some idea on this boost circuit, thanks.

Of course you can use 3.6V rechargable batteries with a 317 driver. You need two of them for red lasers and three of them for blue rays. Their size doesn't really matter, only the voltage and the capacity. You select the size depending on what you have place for and how long you want it to work.

The 317 driver needs 6V OR MORE. It doesn't really work from two 3V batteries. Batteries drop in voltage as they slowly discharge, so with two 3V batteries, the driver would drop out of regulation almost from the start, and would not really provide a constant current. (Maybe you know that, and were only asking about the size)

The boost driver can be hard to make, because to make it small you would need SMD components. Sometimes the boost IC has no legs, and is next to impossible to solder by hand. I work with electronics, and i still managed to kill one when soldering a legless IC by hand.. Another problem is, that you can't really buy SMD components one by one. You'd have to order samples of the IC and the inductors, and then you would have to scavange through old electronic devices for SMD resistors and capacitors. The SMD capacitors have no markings, so you would need a multimeter, that can measure them. In the end, you would have to etch your own boards, and solder everything together.

Honestly, buying Dr_Lava's buck/boost driver is the best thing you can do. He is selling it for $20 and $2 for shipping anywhere, regardless of the number ordered. I think $20 is a VERY good price for what it can do. Just the components could cost you more, unless you ordered in really large amounts. And if you compare this to the fact, that some people are selling parts for a 317 driver for $15, Dr_Lava's drive is almost free for what it can do.

Only a buck/boost driver can drive ANY diode from a single Li-Ion cell. So you can use a slightly larger battery with more capacity, but the final laser will still be smaller, simply because you only need one battery. And compared to linear regulators, the buck/boost driver drives diodes at a VERY high efficiency, while a 317 is complatelly wasting more than half the batteries and turning their capacity into heat (not really a bad thing, just how it works).

thanks Igort, I actually inform Dr. Lava about his driver cuz i like to try one, if this was the solution to my plans on my DIY laser development, i will order more to him, do you know the thread where he sells this buck/boost driver? please give me a link,thanks.

If you get that, you can make your lasers really small. They can work from two normal 1.5V batteries or even two rechargable 1.2V Ni-MHs. But they work best from a Li-Ion.

You just need to tell him what current range you want, and he will set it for you, and when you get it, you just adjust the final current with a tiny SMD pot. His driver is VERY small, only 12x12mm, but it can be made even smaller - 12x10mm and fits in pen lasers, where it can drive a Blue Ray from two normal AAA batteries - something, that is impossible with a linear regulator.

I don't have his driver, but i made one that works almost exactly like it, and it's great. That is why i recommend his driver.

He also includes detailed instructions with the driver. Make sure you read them, and ask if you don't understand something. The only thing you CAN NOT do with this driver is powering it on without a load on the output! If you do this, you can kill it. Since it is a boost driver, and current regulated at that, it tries to achieve the current that is set, but without a load, it tries to do it through air, so it boosts as far as it can, and burns up. Besides, there is no point in measuring current regulated driver output voltage with no load connected.